Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has said the club wants to bring in another defender after losing 3-2 to Borussia Dortmund in the Emirates Cup final.
After the pre-season loss, Arteta mentioned that Arsenal conceded "some poor goals" but emphasized that improving their defense is a team effort.
“We conceded some poor goals today in the way we competed, especially. But that’s a very collective responsibility. So we need to improve with the players that we have. And we want to improve, for sure, we want that,” he said in a Sunday release on the club’s website.
When asked if Arsenal would sign a defender, Arteta confirmed that the club is looking to strengthen the team.
“That’s what we’re trying to do. It has to be the right player in the market to make us much better. We are very much looking forward to that.”
Injury Updates
The manager also talked about William Saliba, who is recovering from an aggravated injury, and Jurrien Timber.
“Jurrien is progressing really well. He’s on the pitch, he’s doing quite a lot right now, but it’s still weeks away. I cannot tell you how much.”
On Saliba, Arteta noted, “William Saliba is in rest mode at the moment for two weeks. He had to do almost nothing, an aggravated injury, so it’s going to take some time to heal. We know that. And as soon as we have more news, we can inform you.”
Arteta recognized the impact of Saliba’s absence, saying Arsenal has faced similar issues before.
“Yes, we have experienced that in the past, unfortunately. And when he’s been available, he’s hit home and the stats are incredible.”
“So we know that we lost a massive player, the same with Jurrien, some of the seven or eight players that weren’t here today with us. So we know that the context is very, very particular.”
Looking for Positives
Despite the loss, Arteta pointed out that Arsenal could find positives in the game.
“And there were so many other positive things. It could have been a very different result, to be fair. And I don’t want to lose sight of that. But losing has to create pain. That’s inevitable.”
Arteta praised new signing Bruno Guimaraes, saying the midfielder has already brought energy and ambition to the club.
“I’m delighted to have him. Why? Well, we see very clearly, especially the energy that he brought immediately to the training ground, the hunger, the desire to come here and create a big history at the club.”
“And that’s the ambition that we need. We want to go to the next level and very, very much convinced that we’re going to need players with such a personality, desire and character to push everybody inside the organisation to go even higher.”
Guimaraes' Impact
Arteta mentioned that Guimaraes would bring versatility, creativity, and an extra goal threat to Arsenal.
“On the pitch, versatility to play in two different positions in relation to what the opponent or we do.”
“A player who obviously has tremendous timing and intuition to win the ball back and progress play very, very fast.”
“He’s a player that is very comfortable putting people through, pulling between the lines, pulling behind. And then he’s a goal threat. He’s got a smell and a really good timing to get in the box and he has the capacity to finish the actions.”
Arteta also said Arsenal fans should not worry too much about the pre-season result.
“No, I mean, I think it has to, it has to hurt when you lose a football match, it has to hurt when it is a friendly match, a test or whatever you want to call it.”
“But yes, we know where we are. We know that we are missing still a lot of players and some players that haven’t had enough training. And yes, sometimes it’s good.”
Return of Players
Several players back from international duty were already with the squad, and Arteta confirmed that the rest would return to training.
“Some of them were back today, already watching the game. Some of them, David and Bukayo, were back yesterday, a bit earlier than expected, which is great to see.”
“I think it’s a really good sign and tomorrow everybody will be available to start the training programme.”
Arteta expressed confidence that the returning players would be ready before the season starts.
“Yes, I think so, yes.”
He added that the club would handle players differently because of their varying fitness levels after the World Cup.
“Yes, that’s something that we’ve done in the past. Obviously, we have some long-term injuries with people coming back, but today we have done that with certain players.”
“Martin played 30 minutes, we made an incredible amount of changes against Betis. It was the same 45 minutes. You wouldn’t recognise, obviously, the team that played last season.”
“So this is part of the preparation and a really specific preparation that, if we don’t see the result right now, makes sure that we see it in a week when we start to compete for the major trophies,” the coach concluded.
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